hello there. glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's thursday, april 18th. i'm catherine kobayashi. u.s. officials say they may be able to identify a suspect through supreme court bombing. two bombs killed three people and wounded more than 170 others. they have not made any arrests.

but media outlets report they're close to identifying a suspect. >> reporter: people from boston have been having vigils to honor those killed in the attacked that left them shocked and saddened. a flag flew at half-mast at the elementary school that richard martin attended. the 8-year-old was the youngest among those killed, standing near the finish line with his family cheering on the runners. one of the bombs also seriously injured his mother and 6-year-old sister. friends and neighbors have visited their home to drop off flowers and presents. two brothers from martin's soccer club brought a ball bearing message from his teammates. he would, like at the end of the game, say he won or lost, do

something crazy to warm up the team and make sure they had a great game. >> reporter: medical teams in boston have been working to treat the survivors of the attack. >> i not only have not seen anything of this scale with the number and severity combined. >> reporter: doctors at brigham and women's hospital say this explosions propelled objects on the street into the wounded. along with the contents of the bombs. >> we identified objects we confirm today were definitely weaponized. they were these very small 2 to 3 millimeter ball bearing-like objects and small carpenter nainail s in three of our patients. >> reporter: investigators suspect nails and ball bearings were used to make the bombs more destructive and they recovered the mangled piece of metal that was said to have been part of a pressure cooker. information on how to make this kind of bomb is readily

available online. some media say it costs less than $100 to put the device together. experts say the generic nature of the device makes it difficult for investigators to narrow down a suspect. >> this type of thing is not something that would be very difficult or sophisticated for somebody to try to make. it doesn't necessarily suggest who carried this out based upon the design of the device. >> law enforcement agents have been called to boston from around the country. they are analyzing the images taken by surveillance video in ed the malls nearby and looking at phones from around the time of the explosion. nhk world, boston. the fbi says a granular substance contained in a letter addressed to president barack obama tested positive for the

poisonous ricin. the u.s. secret service said the letter was intercepted as a white house mail screening facility on tuesday. press secretary jay carney says the president has been briefed on the letter and orders the investigation continue in the boston bombings first and say this is no indicated link between the letters and the bombing bombings. >> . >> the bombings in boston that killed and maimed people have his absolute focus. >> u.s. media say a suspicious letter was also found at the congressional office of republican senator richard shelby of alabama. and senator roger wicker was

also targeted this week. chinese warships patrolled disputes islands wednesday as part of an exercise. the senkaku islands are controlled by japan but claimed by china and taiwan. china's state-run media say the ships are part of their navy fleets, including a missile destroyer and a missile frigate. the vessels entered the waters on tuesday night and stayed until just before dawn the next day, after conducting drills in the western pacific. they practiced inspecting and seizing suspicious vessels. a reporter from the state run news agency on board the dest y destroyer quoted a senior fleet officer as saying, the islands are an integral part of chinese territory. the officer also said it's perfectly legal and justifiable for the navy to navigate in the waters around the islands and that there is no cause for criticism. chinese media noted that april 17th is the anniversary of the

signing of a treaty ending the sino-japanese war in 1895. china claims that japan stole the islands near the end of the war. the flare-up of tension over the senkaku islands has coincided with a spike in fighter jet scrambles in japan to deal with aircraft from china. self-defense force pilots took to the air more than 300 times in the past year to respond to chinese activity, surpassing the number for russian planes for the first time. defense ministry officials say pilots made emergency take-offs against foreign aircraft approaching japanese air space 567 times from april 2012 to the end of march of this year. that's a 20-year high. the number of scrambles against chinese planes almost doubled from the previous fisc year. they increased sharply after last september following the japanese government's move to nationalize the senkaku islands. a chinese government plane flew close to the islands last year,

the first intrusion into japanese airspace since the sdf began keeping records. >> translator: at this point, i don't think china would make approaches that would turn into military conflicts with japan. >> but a former air self-defense force commander also says if japan softens its stance on territorial protection, china could become increasingly active. south korean president park says enough is enough. she says it's time to stop the practice of rewarding north korea in the face of its increasingly belligerent threats. she says her country will not be intimidated into a dialogue with north korea. >> translator: the vicious cycle of the north creating a crisis before returning to negotiations and receiving assistance must be broken. the international community should speak with one voice to

deliver this message. >> park met with a group of foreign ambassadors in seoul. she's trying to work with other nations to create an environment in which north korea will respond to a call for dialogue. south korea hopes to hold talks with the north on resuming operations at the kaesong industrial complex which is jointly run by the two nations. the north has blocked access to kaesong since early this month amid worsening tensions. aung san suu kyi has spent the past several days in japan laying out her vision for her country's future. it's the first time the nobel laureate and myanmar opposition leader has come here in 27 years. she spoke to nhk about the pace of democratization and reform, relations with the military, and her political future. nhk world's satoru aoyama has more. >> reporter: aung san suu kyi has traveled around the world seeking help in her country's quest for democracy and economic

expansion. she's now asking japanese leaders for their support. >> if you want to hope for something, you've got to work for it too. >> reporter: myanmar returned to civilian law two years ago. president thein sein released political prisoners and abolished republication censorship of the media, among other policy changes. he won international praise and nations eased sanctions against the country, which is also known as burma. aung san suu kyi's national league for democracy, the largest opposition, won 43 of the 45 seats up for grabs last year in parliamentary bi-elections. she became a member of parliament. she says her country still has a long way to go. >> for me reform means real

change in the lives of our people, and i don't think there has been enough progress in that direction. i think most people in burma would say that there has been no real change in their lives since 2010. >> reporter: the nobel laureate has suggested she's ready to further the push for democracy by working with the military and other forces, her former opponents. >> we've always said that the key to a better future for our country is national reconciliation. it's cooperation and it's working together toward -- toward shared aspirations and shared goals. >> reporter: some experts say aung san suu kyi could be president following an election in 2015. >> i'm confident that there's every chance that i can become president of this country.

but i would not like to say i'm confident that i will become president of the country because that's assuming that the people will vote for me. and it's for them to decide, not for me to decide for them. >> reporter: aung san suu kyi is aiming to revise myanmar's constitution, which gives preferential treatment to the military. but to do that, her party will need to win the 2015 general election, and she has to gain the support of the military, which still has strong influence. aung san suu kyi will need to rely on her decades of political experience more than ever. satoru aoyama, nhk world, tokyo. watch "nhk world" this weekend to see more of our interview with aung san suu kyi. we'll broadcast it saturday on "close-up." check out website for the times

at www.jrc.or.jp/english. terrorists have staged a series of attacks targeting political parties in pakistan. candidates are campaigning ahead of general election for may. citizens are becoming increasingly concern due to slow progress and security conditions in the country. reporting from islamabad. >> reporter: the latest attack his an election rally on tuesday evening. the men brought explosives and detonated them in the evening at the northwestern city of peshawar. >> translator: we were nearby when the blast hit. we rushed over to find body parts lying on the ground and a driver trapped in a burning vehicle. many people were injured. political officials helped us attend to the dead and injured.

>> reporter: the blast killed at least 17 people, including three children and a reporter who was covering the event. 78 people were injured. among the wounded was ahmed below, pakistan's former railways minister and a senior member of the anp. the anp strongly opposes islamic fundamentalists groups. the pakistani taliban, the nation's biggest radical group, has claimed responsibility for the blast. in a separate incident, in peshawar on tuesday, attackers threw a hand grenade at an influential politician from the ruling party. bystanders were injured. another bombing in a southwestern province targeted a candidate representing the largest opposition party. four people were killed in the attack.

attacks have struck daiwa's targets. earlier this month an armed group attacked a power plant in peshawar. the incident has caused the shadow over an area where power shortages are already frequent. terrorist attacks have claimed the lives of 40,000 people in pakistan in the past decade. so far this year, more than 200 have died in terror attacks targeting shia muslims. the government is now under pressure to ensure public safety during the campaign season and upcoming elections. nazar ul islam, nhk world, islamabad.

a french energy company has sent nuclear fuel to japan for the first time since the disaster in fukushima two years ago. protesters fear the shipment signals japanese utilities may restart some reactors. a ship left cherbourg, france, carrying a blend of plutonium and uranium. a french energy group is delivering the shipment to the power company. the people who won the electric company plan to use the fuel in their plant in central japan. the complex, like most nuclear facilities in the country is currently offline. dozens of activists from green peace staged a protest before the ship left port and say it is extremely dangerous. the ship will arrive in japan in about two months.

former british prime minister margaret thatcher has been laid to rest. known as the iron lady, thatcher was a divisive figure who was both loved and despised. she died last monday at the age of 87. ♪ more than 2,000 guests from around the world attended a memorial service at st. paul's cathedral in central london. they included queen elizabeth ii and her husband prince philip. british prime minister david cameron and other world dignitaries were also at the funeral. the bishop of london, the right reverend richard charters paid tribute to thatcher's achievements during the service. he expressed thanks for her leadership, courage, and determination to carry out reform. before the ceremony, thatcher's coffin traveled from westminster palace to the cathedral along streets lined with mourners. >> she changed the lives dramatically of everyone here in this country. in short, we were considered to be a third world. after 11 years of her leadership

we actually became a formidable economic power. >> reporter: about 4,000 police officers were deployed, but only a few minor disturbances were reported. many britons still hold thatcher responsible for forcing reforms through that hurt working people and widened the disparity between rich and poor. crown princess masako of japan is getting ready to make her first trip abroad in more than a decade after a long struggle with health issues. she's scheduled to accompany crown prince naruhito later this month on an official visit to the netherlands. the imperial couple is on the guest list for the april 30th coronation of crown prince willem-alexander. the crown princess has been under medical treatment for the past nine years. doctors say she is suffering from an adjustment disorder. they say excessive stress, strained both her mental and

physical health. but they note her recovery has stayed steady and she can resume more duties including the foreign trip. now, let's take a look at the market figures. managers at many small factories have to learn to adapt

or face the consequences. but it can be difficult for those who worked in the same business for years. not so for the owner of one japanese company. it turns out his hobby gave him the idea of saving his business. >> reporter: staff at the factory take a ride. they work for a company in this prefecture. they designed and built a train. this small company used to make machines that were traditional fabrics. but they stopped production nine years ago. >> translator: even if we were to make the machines, no one out there buys them anymore. we started to think about what else we could do with the skills

we had developed from making the machine machines. >> he also has another skill to draw on, build iing trains as a hobby. and the train has something in comm common. they need a power source to make trains with. you can put any kind of boxcar on the base that has been assembled. this was made for model train fans. but it caught the attention of people at the railroad technical research institute. cutting edge or technologies. he has been working on the safety device for high speed trains. so they asked him to make a small test train.

in order to make an accurate product, he has those from seven factories that used to work with h him. >> translator: i was in charge of this axle and wheel. at first, i didn't know what to d do. >> he asked his engineers experienced in building and tech service to assemble the parts. >> translator: even if all the individual pieces have been made precisely, it's understanding all the pieces and putting them all together. >> it is completed in four months. the modern supersized is a fractional mill me timetemillim.

the train is tested and railway experts are delight with the product. >> translator: it's difficult to weld so many parts with such precision. the fact they were able to do it so precisely amazed me. >> the stability and to prevent the trains from tippliing over once they go over the rails. summer is exploring other uses for his train and to serve them abroad. >> translator: i think the model trains are more popular overseas. if we could reach enough

customers there, i believe the trains could be our main product line. >> traditional craftmanship h p helps ensure assist modern railways and a journey for potential rewards. nhk world. time now to get a check on the weather. mai shoji joins us. good morning. people in northern europe are enjoying warmer weather but there's been unin tend consequences in lattia. >> good morning. absolutely right. the long winter in entrepreneur is finally coming to an end and we're seeing spring-like temperaturings across this couldn't uncertainty and called trigger flooding. let me show you a video coming out. this is what's happening.

spring has been very slow to arrive because of exceptionally cold winter. a burst of warm weather swept across the country bringing with it the town in central latvia. the conditions may get worse. really unwelcome situation. the high pressure system over the central areas will create the dry and warm conditions, leading to further snow melting. the avalanche is at high risk in the pironese due to this warmth and into france, we may see thunderstorms popping up? generally speaking, clear and nice with the british isle with the system moving in and wet and windy conditions continue across the area and reports of winds of 100 kilometers per hour and

likely to condition in the northern areas, especially ireland. and the scandinavian pennsylvania pst la. and madrid, 24 degrees. moving to north america, winter in the north and spring towards the south. typical pattern through this year. but we've seen quite heavy amounts of snow. this is quite unseasonable. colorado, you've seen 72 centimeters in the past 24 hours likely to continue in the next 24 with intense amounts of snowfall. about 50 centimeters are locally possible in the upper midwest down to the four corners region. below that, south of that freezing rain will make life very difficult and south of that, severe weather is likely. we cannot rule out there are possibilities of unleashing

tornadoes and hail and numerous reports of hail and it will likely continue. damaging winds as well. new york, 16 degrees, oklahoma city is down to 13 degrees. but denver, a little bit of a milder temperature compared to yesterday we had minus 2 degrees. in the positive really. los angeles, 27. mexico city, already in the 30s. in asia, we're looking at heavy rain across the peninsula and southern and china peninsula. it has been an ongoing story for a week and flooding risk is very high. flooding is going to be very high due to the amount of rain pouring in southeastern areas. that will continue to the weekend. towards the north of that, things are pretty dry. looking at temperatures, tokyo, 22. seoul at 16 for today. that will be dropping in towards the weekend. we want that warmth in the weekend but i guess it won't

work that way. here's your extended forecast.

that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.